


Wrestling Match

by plutosrose



Series: Stucky Bingo 2020 [19]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Past Steve Rogers/Brock Rumlow - Freeform, outsider pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:42:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29701446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plutosrose/pseuds/plutosrose
Summary: “For the record, though, I am happy that you have someone now who you care about and who cares about you. Someone who isn’t Brock. I still can’t believe that.” Natasha shook her head as she drained her glass.“I’m never going to live that down, am I?”Natasha reached over and patted Steve on the arm. “Not even a little bit.”
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov
Series: Stucky Bingo 2020 [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830826
Comments: 12
Kudos: 39
Collections: Stucky Bingo 2020





	Wrestling Match

Between the whole government crackdown of superheroes, being detained indefinitely thing, spending three months in Wakanda as a fugitive from the law, and the ensuing congressional hearings about the constitutionality of the Sokovia Accords, Natasha had been, well, busy. 

Steve had been even busier, splitting his time between Wakanda and New York City, working with the attorneys that were meeting regularly with members of Congress and the president in an effort to secure a pardon for James Barnes, former Winter Soldier and current Wakandan goat farmer. 

Suffice to say, they were both incredibly busy people. But, the next time that she ran into Steve in New York City (and no, you do not need to know what she was doing before then, that’s classified), she practically dragged him out of his apartment to a bar down the street over his protests that he wouldn’t be able to get drunk. 

“That isn’t the point, Steve,” she’d said as the bouncer in front of the bar had saluted the two of them in lieu of checking their IDs. “The point is that you need to get out. Live a little.” 

Steve had been working around the clock trying to get Bucky to be able to come home, so he definitely deserved a break. Natasha, for her part, however, didn’t have entirely selfless motives for making sure that he got out of the house. After all, she needed to interrogate him over a small bit of information that had come out a few months back, when everyone (and she really meant everyone here), had overheard on the comms in Wakanda that he and Brock had used to hook up. 

Once the bartender had poured them both drinks, it was time for the interrogation to begin. 

“Steven America Rogers, I can’t believe you were hooking up with Brock,” Natasha said, grinning wolfishly as she nursed her vodka soda. 

Steve rolled his eyes. “My middle name isn’t America.” 

Natasha rolled her eyes right back at him. “Sorry, I was poor Soviet child. I do not know what middle names are,” she said, putting on an exaggerated Russian accent. 

Steve did not look remotely impressed. In fact, Natasha would even venture to say that he looked Captain America levels of pissed off, like he was about to tell her that smoking was bad for her health. 

The moment passed fairly quickly, thankfully, because even though Natasha would count herself impervious to any disappointment from Captain America, she was not willing to find out how strong her defenses truly were. 

Steve cleared his throat and shrugged. “It wasn’t a big deal. It’s not like it was serious. I didn’t even like him. And besides, the women you were throwing at me couldn’t handle all of this so...”

Natasha raised an eyebrow and glanced down for a split second. “Did you just gesture at your crotch?”

“Did you just look at my crotch?”

“Mr. America, I believe I am directing the interrogation here.” 

“Natasha.”

“Steven.”

Steve let out a very long, very exasperated sigh. “I don’t see what the big deal is,” he repeated, “We were both two consenting adults...”

Natasha waved a hand. “It was Brock, that’s why. Brock, who couldn’t have gone a single day without telling Sharon she had nice tits if his life depended on it. The same Brock with his Alpha male bullshit. I would have thought that you, out of everyone, would have the least amount of tolerance when it came to seeing him outside of work hours. Even less than Sharon, and I’m pretty sure she uses photos of Brock as target practice at the range.”

Steve wrinkled his nose. “We weren’t exactly doing that much talking. Actually, the only time he really shut up was when I was sticking my dick in him.” 

Natasha raised an eyebrow even higher. If she was anyone else, she might have been slightly more scandalized at hearing Captain America say the word ‘dick’ and admit that he’d indulged in some good old-fashioned hate sex. 

On second thought, maybe that was why she wasn’t entirely surprised--it wasn’t like the 21st century had the monopoly on hate sex.

“So is that how it started? You wanted him to shut up and you tried sticking your dick in him?”

A blush crept up Steve’s neck. “Something like that?”

“What do you mean ‘something like that’?”

Steve narrowed his eyes at her. “Is it a common practice to interrogate people about their sex lives in the future?”

Natasha tipped her glass back to drain the rest of it, before gesturing at the bartender for a re-fill. “You’ve been in ‘the future’ for like six years now, Steve. Don’t try to pull that crap with me. Besides, that’s not what this is about, I’m just trying to wrap my head around this whole thing. Seems almost unbelievable, if you ask me.” 

Steve shrugged. “It was pretty unbelievable for Brock too, but after he lost a wrestling match with me, he seemed to catch on pretty quick.”

Natasha practically choked on her vodka. “...a wrestling match?” 

Steve shrugged again, like he was going through a particularly boring briefing with her. “Yeah, well, he wanted to top. Thought he would top. So I suggested that we wrestle for it. It took like five seconds for him to lose, because you know, I was being a gentleman about it.”

Natasha snorted and raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, of course.”

Steve pursed his lips, and for a moment, looked like he was deep in thought. “You know, one time, I think he wanted to open up to me about why he went into the army and joined SHIELD. But it was...weird, you know? He wouldn’t shut up about Bucky.”

Barnes, as Natasha recalled, had been put on army recruitment posters as far back as Korea. She also recalled the absolute meltdown that Steve had the first time that he caught a glimpse of one in a documentary that someone, who, to this day, would not claim responsibility, had put on in the common room. 

Fortunately, Stark had replaced the television without a second thought, and in a rare moment of tact, had never brought it up again.

“He told me that Bucky inspired him to join the military, and then I threw him out of my apartment. Just seemed wrong for Brock to bring him up.” 

“Yeah, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that he wasn’t trying to be open and honest with you, I think he was obsessed with the fact that he knew who the Winter Soldier was,” Natasha said, narrowing her eyes as she thought back to the files that she’d recovered from SHIELD’s database. Even a place as gruesome and cruel as the Red Room hadn’t been able to fully prepare her for some of what she’d found when she’d gone digging for information on Barnes.

Steve looked thoughtful for a moment, before a slow realization seemed to dawn on him that she was probably right. At least, that was what she assumed what that expression of shock, anger, and ultimately, relaxed acceptance meant. 

“You know, that explains the bullshit that he said in Wakanda,” Steve said, chewing on his lip and clutching his beer so tightly that there had to be a decent chance that it would shatter in his hands. 

“We all heard the bullshit he said over the comms about Barnes,” Natasha sighed. “And we heard what you said back to him.”

Of course, neither she nor Sam nor Maria nor even Fury for that matter had any doubt about what Barnes’s relationship to Steve had been, especially after the mask had come off on the bridge. But it was one thing to read between the lines and come to a conclusion and another to hear one of your former co-workers spewing venom and filth about someone right before they detonated a bomb.

They had a very strange line of work, admittedly, but someone had to do it. 

“It’s funny you should mention that because I was just thinking about how terrible you were in bed compared to him,” Steve repeated remorsefully. “Sorry.” 

“You don’t have to apologize to me, but you did, if I recall correctly, apologize to Wanda, who kept saying something about ‘you’re like a father to me and I don’t want to imagine you having sex on top, bottom, sideways, or upside down.’ Did I get that right?”

Steve winced. Natasha chuckled lightly and clapped him on the back. “Just try to keep it to yourself a little bit more, unless, you know, someone consents to hearing these details.” 

Steve raised an eyebrow at her, and she raised one right back, and the two of them stayed locked in this bizarre, tense silence until Steve cleared his throat. 

“For the record, I’m sorry that I never told you.” 

Natasha shrugged. What people didn’t tell her (and what she didn’t tell them) could have filled several books. She had learned a long time ago not to take it personally. “I’m not offended that you didn’t tell me, but...it sounds like you could have used someone to talk a little sense into you.” 

She offered a small smile and got one in return. 

“For the record, though, I am happy that you have someone now who you care about and who cares about you. Someone who isn’t Brock. I still can’t believe that.” Natasha shook her head as she drained her glass. 

“I’m never going to live that down, am I?”

Natasha reached over and patted Steve on the arm. “Not even a little bit.” 

Noting the time, Natasha hopped off of the barstool. “I’m afraid that I’m going to have to cut our time short, Rogers. Early day tomorrow.” 

“Your early day wouldn’t happen to be classified, would it?” 

Natasha grinned and patted Steve on the shoulder. “Indeed it is. Talk soon, okay? I love it when we get the chance to catch up.” 

Steve rolled his eyes, but pulled Natasha in for a quick hug. 

She left before he was able to realize that she’d left him with the tab.

A few months later, a package of classified HYDRA documents appeared on Steve’s doorstep in Brooklyn, with a note that said, ‘Consider this the other half of that bar tab.’

**Author's Note:**

> Wrestling Match  
> Creator(s): plutosrose  
> Card number: 012  
> Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29701446  
> Square filled: A2, Brock Rumlow  
> Rating: M  
> Archive warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply  
> Major tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Past Steve Rogers/Brock Rumlow, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Outsider POV  
> Summary:
> 
> “For the record, though, I am happy that you have someone now who you care about and who cares about you. Someone who isn’t Brock. I still can’t believe that.” Natasha shook her head as she drained her glass. 
> 
> “I’m never going to live that down, am I?”
> 
> Natasha reached over and patted Steve on the arm. “Not even a little bit.” 
> 
> Word count: 1,725


End file.
